


Slytherin Shorts

by Myra_Bones



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Drabble, One Shot Collection, Original Characters - Freeform, Short Stories, Slytherin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-03
Updated: 2018-02-03
Packaged: 2019-03-13 04:37:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13562970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Myra_Bones/pseuds/Myra_Bones
Summary: A collection of short stories about Slytherins. Before and after the war, canon and original characters, sweet, dark and anything in between. More specific warnings in every chapter.





	Slytherin Shorts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pure fluff. Not all Slytherins are evil...

It wasn’t unusual for a Slytherin student to be walking around the castle after hours: many of them had their own issues sleeping, and they would often seek the solitude of the night to calm them down. Oftentimes there’d be multiple Snakes wandering the dark hallways, each lost in their own thoughts.

Trevor was one such student that night. He’d been woken up by a nightmare, and since he couldn’t manage to go to sleep again, he’d snuck out of the common room. He didn’t particularly care where he went, only keeping an eye out for any patrolling teachers. It wouldn’t do for a Snake to get caught, after all.

When he found himself on the highest floor of the castle (as evidenced by a burning in his muscles that even five years of climbing the stairs multiple times a day couldn’t get rid of) he wasn’t terribly surprised. He’d always liked being up high and taking his time surveilling. His younger brother who loved to play video games would often joke he’d be a great sniper. Or at least he used to.

A soft sniffle caught his attention, and he frowned to himself as he rounded the corner, recognizing the area as the Raven’s den. The Ravenclaws didn’t mind sharing their space with others, and he’d often come here to relax and make use of the Ravenclaws’ Alumni Library. While the Ravenclaws made liberal use of the school library, it was a little-known fact that every student would add onto an already enormous library hidden away in their Common Room.

Now, however, he found a girl curled up in front of the eagle knocker, pressed against the wall. The little thing couldn’t be older than twelve, her blond hair hiding her face as she pressed it against her knees. It didn’t take long for Trevor to figure out what was wrong; while the Riddle system that served as security for the tower worked great in many ways, there would inevitably be students in every year whose strength and brilliance laid in arts or music or even just sheer intelligence. These students often travelled in groups if only because, despite the fact that they absolutely belonged and thrived in Ravenclaw, they were never very good at solving riddles.

“Hey,” he greeted softly, kneeling in front of the small girl. She startled, large blue eyes moving up to look at him. He saw her take in his smile and gentle eyes, before visibly startling when her eyes came to rest on his Slytherin crest. He suppressed a sigh – it wasn’t her fault that stereotypes were permeated throughout the school.

“Easy. I was just wandering around,” he tried to reassure her, his smile widening a bit. “I couldn’t sleep. My name’s Trevor. What’s yours?"

The girl bit her lip softly, looking down nervously. It took her almost two minutes to answer, but patience was a virtue highly respected in Slytherin. “Macy,” she answered after a moment, her fingers fiddling with the edges of her robe. “I… I couldn’t sleep either. I wanted to go for a walk, but now…” She trailed off, blue eyes moving to the eagle knocker resting innocently against the door.

Trevor hummed in understanding, moving so he was sitting against the wall next to her, one leg curled up and the other stretched out in front of him. “I’m no good at riddles either,” he told her with a smile, even though it was a lie. One of the rules the Ravens set for visitors is that they must earn their right to enter, and he’d solved more than his fair share of the eagle’s riddles. Still, if there was ever a good motive for a white lie… “How about you tell me what it said and we’ll solve it together? Two minds are greater than one and all that, right?”

The girl seemed to hesitate for a moment, her eyes once again flicking to the green and silver adorning the edges of his robes. “Why?” she asked softly, sounding almost scared. To ask the question or of the answer, he didn’t know.

Trevor didn’t hesitate in his answer, even though his mind ran a mile a minute. Because he could understand her, locked out of her own home. Because she reminded him of his little brother, safe at Eton’s. Because he was a sleep-deprived softy and her large blue eyes broke him down. A thousand reasons and more.

“I’m bored.” He shrugged as he said it, giving Macy a little grin and a bit of a wink.

Her eyes seemed to fall a bit at his answer, her shoulders sagging. It took a considerable effort not to curse himself for his stupidity, even as she gave the riddle. “An insect that hides another one inside.” She said it softly, but without hesitation, as if she’d been repeating it to herself. He didn’t doubt that she had been.

 _A beetle_ , he thought almost immediately, biting his tongue to stop himself from blurting it out. Instead, he hummed thoughtfully, his eyebrows creasing down into a frown and his eyes staring off into the distance. “That’s a tough one,” he agreed. Macy bit her lips, her own eyes going to stare at the ground.

Trevor spend the next half hour leaning against the wall, talking with Macy about the riddle. He was a Snake, and he was used to getting people to think the way he wanted them to: steering Macy’s thought process in the right direction wasn’t incredibly difficult. And it was worth every second and every bit of effort that went into it when her face brightened, her lips pulling up into a grin and her eyes widening when the answer finally popped into her mind.

“A beetle!” she squealed, loudly enough that Trevor’s eyes flicked around the hallway to make sure there were no professors around. But no one ever patrolled this high up, and he hadn’t heard anyone, so he relaxed again.

Instead, he allowed himself to grin, his own eyes softening with the smile. “I think you’re right,” he agreed after a second, shooting the girl a proud look. She smiled back brightly, her entire demeanour changed now that she’d solved the riddle. The Ravenclaws often laid too much pressure on the simple riddles, and he knew how their sense of self-worth was damaged whenever they couldn’t figure it out. He could’ve told her the answer and gotten her into bed faster, but the half hours’ sleep difference wasn’t nearly as important as the boost to her confidence. “Brilliant!”

He stood up then, ignoring the blood rushing back to his leg almost painfully, and used the knocker. It repeated its riddle expectantly, and he turned to Macy, who was still curled up on the floor but now looking up at the eagle.

This time, her voice was softer, the immediate excitement having faded somewhat and turned into nervousness. He encouraged her with a nod and a smile until she spoke up just loudly enough for the magic to activate. “A beetle?”

The door swung open wordlessly, and Macy’s eyes widened in wonder and surprise. It was clear that even after he’d agreed with her she’d expected to be wrong as always, and the fact that the door opened for her amazed her. After a moment of simply staring at it she jumped up and surprised Trevor by hugging him close.

“Thank you!” she squealed again, even as he somewhat awkwardly patted her shoulders. “Thank you for helping me! I didn’t think I’d get in tonight!”

He smiled softly, looking at the top of her head. “Well, you’d best get to bed,” he told her gently. “It’s already midnight, you won’t be able to sleep much. We don’t want you falling asleep in History, do we?” he teased lightly, satisfied when she giggled a bit.

She hugged him close for a moment longer, thanked him a million times, and finally stepped into the common room. He closed the door behind her, staring at it for a moment before turning around, intending to go back to his own dorms. He didn’t think he’d have any more trouble sleeping.

“Mr. Jones.” The voice had him spinning around, her wand falling into his hand and aimed towards the source. Professor Flitwick raised an amused eyebrow as he sheepishly placed it back into its holder before giving the professor a nervous look. Snape would murder him if he got detention for skulking around the Ravenclaw dorms. He’d dissect him first if he lost any points in the process, especially now that they were almost tied with Gryffindor.

The diminutive Charms professor surprised him, however, by doing neither, instead giving him a smile and a grateful nod. “Thank you for helping Ms. Mason,” he said, and Trevor absently decided he needed to have a talk with the parents who named their daughter _Macy Mason_. Clearly they thought themselves more humorous than they were.

“I didn’t even solve the riddle, sir,” he said, eyebrows furrowing down into a confused expression.

Flitwick only continued to give him an amused look, clearly not fooled by his pretended innocence. “Nevertheless,” he said with a shrug, looking towards the door. “If I could change tradition, I would. Now, you’d best get to bed, Mr. Jones. It’s already midnight, and we don’t want you falling asleep in my class tomorrow.”

Trevor flushed brightly even as he nodded and went back to his common room, sleep finding him easily now.

And if he snatched a PepperUp potion from the Slytherin supply closet and instructed the elves to give it to Macy, or if Flitwick asked him several ridiculous easy questions and awarded each correct answer with enough points for them to rise high above the Gryffindors, and if he spend the rest of the week on the lookout outside of the Ravenclaw entrance for as long as he could until Flitwick chased him back to his own dorm…

Well, nobody would know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who were wondering: A BEEtle. There's a Bee hidden inside.  
> Please leave a comment and kudos, we thrive on that sort of thing!


End file.
